Democratic Strategist Penn: Obama Must Shift to Center to Save His Job

Mitt Romney’s victories in Iowa and New Hampshire show that moderate voters are reigning supreme, says top Democratic strategist Mark Penn. And President Barack Obama better heed that lesson if he wants to win re-election, the man who aided both Bill and Hillary Clinton writes in The Hill.

“The more centrist the Republican nominee, the more centrist the president needs to be in order to win in 2012,” Penn states. “The huge ideological gap that would have made running against the Republicans an easy romp is disappearing as the exit polls show that even primary voters are choosing practicality over partisanship.”

Romney’s moderate, economic focus would help him in the general election, Penn says. “A centrist who does exceptionally well with voters concerned about the economy is, at the end of the day, the last kind of opponent the White House would want to come out of the seemingly crazy and at times out-of-control Republican nominating process,” he writes.

And if Obama wants to try class warfare, that’s just not going to cut it against Romney, Penn maintains. “Romney did best with college-educated voters and those making more than $100,000 annually,” Penn writes. “More than 26 percent of the voters in the last presidential election made more than $100,000.”